Why Story? What’s all the hype about?

You may have noticed recently, “story” is one of the new buzz words getting thrown around a lot in marketing these days . What’s the deal? We all know that story isn’t a new concept. Story has been around since the beginning of time. In fact, you’ve most likely noticed, “story” is most of the word “history”, which is a narrative or retelling of events. Why is it so popular these days?

Most likely, from recent scientific research that shows how important it is when engaging people. After all, if you’re wanting to convey your organization’s message, product or ideas, you really must engage people emotionally. How do we do that? Tell them a good story. And do it really well.

Paul Zak’s research demonstrates that when we connect emotionally to another person, it can actually be measured. The hormone oxytocin actually increases once a person gets engaged in a story. He also discovered that character driven stories were the one’s that most consistently produced this hormone. Why is this important? We’re not doing hormone therapy, right? It’s important because we want people to remember. Think of the last film or video you watched that spewed out a bunch of statistics. How many of those facts can you recall? Now think of the last film or video you watched that made you feel something inside? Can you recall the organization? Probably so. The reason is, you were engaged emotionally, and oxytocin was created in your brain. In our next few blog posts, we’ll discuss the four pillars of story, and why they matter if you want people to remember your message. And that’s really what we’re trying to do, isn’t it?